From time to time, OGGOA will come across too many news items we want to share with our readers. In those instances, we present a special post: Gator Bites. Enjoy.

– Reports were released early Sunday that Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer was hospitalized late Saturday night with chest pains. However, Meyer actually checked himself into Shands hospital in Gainesville, FL, early Sunday morning. He was treated and released for dehydration. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Meyer “worked late recruiting Saturday night after the Southeastern Conference Championship game loss to Alabama, which may have contributed to his dehydration.” ESPN has the story:

– Four-star linebacker Jeff Luc (Port St. Lucie, FL), a recruit who was highly coveted by the Gators, committed to the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday according to Aaron Shepard, one of his high school coaches. “He said he’s been a fan since he’s been a little kid and it just felt like home since he went up there this weekend,” Shepard told The Orlando Sentinel on Sunday.

– Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong told reporters on Saturday that he has not yet spoken to the Louisville Cardinals and had no planned meeting with the school on Sunday. Sunday morning, the Cardinals spoke with Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and received permission to speak with Strong about the job opening. According to ESPN’s Joe Schad on twitter, Strong and Louisville AD Tom Jurich have plans to meet Sunday night in Gainesville, FL.

– The Gators will likely face the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl. Meyer played defensive back for the Bearcats from 1983-1986.

– Former Alabama Crimson Tide running back Shaun Alexander, a close friend of senior quarterback Tim Tebow for some time, was seen consoling him late after the game in the Georgia Dome.

– Prior to the Miami Dolphins game on Sunday, former middle linebacker Channing Crowder ran out of the tunnel and gave a huge Gator Chomp to the crowd (which received a surprising ovation). Crowder was responsible for the game-clinching interception with 0:35 left in the fourth quarter as the Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots.

– Also a huge day for former Florida wide receiver Louis Murphy with the Oakland Raiders. Murphy caught four balls for 128 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers to give his team a 27-24 win.

Related

Reading

9 Comments

We got our butts kicked because ‘Bama had a great game plan for us. I’m sure that, like me, the Gators thought that the Tide would try to run right at em. Instead they spread it out and actually challenged our secondary. Our DB’s didn’t see it coming.

We needed an offense Saturday (13 pts- 1TD) which I’ve said all year was deficient in this Gators team. This time the defense wasn’t able to cover for the anemic Addazio offense. The general comment was”as long as we win…We’re undefeated!” This team did not perform up to its capabilities all season, but the defense & a weak schedule diguised the cancer. Receivers weren’t surehanded like last year… the same guys who caught tough chances last season, dropped them this tear. James could have been replaced by any of a dozen on the roster and was relied on far too heavily. The O-Line was sketchy and generally undependable much of the year, even though they did an adequate job Saturday.

I watched the Gator OC on the sidelines & he appeared lost….all year! The offense was not only conservative, but predictable & by the end of the year, teams were anticipating the plays along with Addazio. In the 2nd half when the Gators needed a jolt to get back in the game, the Gators kicked the ball away on 4th & 2 feet. That’s audacity! And that’s when we lost that game. I estimate that this team played up to about 50% of its capability this year offensively. Next year, with Addazio & likely without Strong we could expect more underperformance.

Now, UF may very well lose several defensive recruits if Strong leaves. That’s not the worse thing. With the outstanding recruiting program Meyer has instituted, where are the recent committments? Players who saw the UT game left unimpressed and likely visited Kiffin. They couldn’t have been encouraged by Gator efforts vs LSU, Arkansas, Vanderbilt or South Carolina. Would you want to play in the Addazio offense if you had an eye on an NFL carreer? I want the best for the Gators…. This ain’t it!

Look at OGGOA’s recruiting page – there are plenty and many more coming. The Gators could very well end up with the No. 1 class in the country when all is said and done.

If Strong does leave, he could very well take Billy Gonazlez (WR coach) as his offensive coordinator. Florida must look to replace their offensive coordinator, I agree. But more than everything you said above, the Gators only gave Demps one carry, Rainey two carries and Moody zero carries. That’s 3 carries for your top three running backs. That is unacceptable.

We’ll see & hope that all of these commits sign & attend UF & that the Gators entice their share of the remaining outstanding uncommitted players. My comments (Charlie Strong aside) is that Gator home performances have not assisted in the recruiting effort… especially for those offensive-minded athletes. I’ve coached sports and wouldn’t recommend players to commit to play under a coach like Steve Addazio

Coach Meyer must have been devastated by how that game went down. First of all, he is the ultimate competator and we all know how much he loves this senior class. There’s no other coach I’d rather have running our program. We may not always win the championships, but we’ll always be deep in the conversation. Right now we are all down, but we won’t stay there!!

I agree with Reptiles! I just hope that Coach Meyer is as concerned with the offensive performance of a truly talented group as I am. Where does he go from here, is the question? (I stated about a month ago that I didn’t feel that this team could overcome the weight of its OC and achieve its obvious goal.)

The offense was weak, but you keep discounting the ridiculous defensive failures all game long. Big plays, short plays, penalties, etc. The defense failed multiple times when it normally/usually wouldn’t have.

It’s obvious that the Gator defense was at its worst Saturday, but a good Gator offense could have overcome it. The defense has carried this squad all year and you now see what happens if the defense is less than stellar. Addazio’s offense has been inept ALL year….not just one game! Strong 90%…Addazio 0%

ABOUT US

OnlyGators.com (a/k/a ONLY GATORS Get Out Alive, Only Gators, OGGOA, OG) is an independent website owned by Only Gators, LLC. It is not affiliated in any way with the University of Florida, University Athletic Association or Florida Gators.